A Teochew Fairytale Retold by Huang Lei
A Teochew Fairytale Retold by
Teochew Fables As Documented Originally by
Huang Lei
Adele M. Fielde in the
Chinese Nights’ Entertainment Retold and Illustrated by
Huang Lei
To those who say, “I don’t know any Chinese dialect folktales”, this book is for you.
It never occurred to me to question why we have only heard of a handful of folktales like Chang’e and the Moon, or the tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, while the rest are lost in time. Each culture has its own share of rich history and fairytales, and today, I hope to share one from the Teochew culture itself. It’s highly possible you have never heard of this before, so I hope you enjoy this retelling all the more.
History of Teochews Teochew prefecture (Chaozhou) is located at the southern part of China, and is where most Singaporean Teochews can trace their ancestral lineage to. Teochews are people of the sea; the land borders the coastline, and the Chinese characters ‘潮州’ can be translated to ‘tidal prefecture’. Eventually, our Teochew forebears took to their ships and sailed to new lands, including Singapore. The folktale you are about to read was documented in the 1890s by an American missionary, Adele M. Fielde, during her trip to Swatow, Teochew prefecture. In total she recorded forty tales, shared to her by the storytellers she met during her travels. Her book, Chinese Nights’ Entertainment, is one of the most extensive anthologies of Teochew folklore to have survived the passage of time. Today, these retold Teochew folktales serve as a window to which you can peer through and learn more about the culture anew.
Teochew prefecture
Somewhere in Teochew province, there once lived a family consisting of a father and his three sons. The two elder sons recently wedded to two women from a village miles away from theirs. The daughtersin-law were perpetually homesick, and would often bother the father to let them visit their families.
Tired by their constant requests, he thought hard for a sly way to put an end to them. The daughters-in-law can go home on two conditions: one of them shall bring me some fire wrapped in paper, and the other some wind in paper. Unless they can promise this, they are not allowed to go home, and if they fail to get these, they can never come back.
This was supposed to deter the daughters-in-law, but they were heedless of the tasks, and readily promised to fulfill the conditions. In great glee they set off to their family homes. After they had walked a long distance, one of the girls’ heels slipped off, and she fell down. Just then, the conditions of the promise came to mind, and they began to cry.
A young girl riding a buffalo passed by, and stopped to ask them what was the matter. The daughters-in-law, seeing her youth, told her she could do them no good. But she persisted and managed to convince them to tell her about the promise.
The girl promptly invited them to her house, where she showed them how to fulfill their father-in-law’s terms.
For the first term, they only need a paper lantern. Once lit with a flame, it would be ‘fire wrapped in paper’. For the second, all they needed was a paper fan. When flapped, the wind generated will be ‘wind wrapped in paper’.
These solutions reassured the daughters-in-law greatly. They thanked the child gratefully and continued their way to their family homes.
When they returned to their father-in-law’s house, they brought along only a lantern and fan. Just when he was about to reprimand them for their light disregard of his terms, they reassured him that they fulfilled his conditions.
Much impressed, he inquired about how they came about with these answers, and the daughters-in-law told him about the young girl.
The father enquired about the girl’s marital status, and found out that she was yet unbetrothed. He engaged a go-between to see if he could ask her to be the wife of his youngest son.
After the girl agreed to join the family, the father decided that since she possessed extraordinary wisdom, she shall be the head of the household.
The young head told them never to go to or from the fields empty-handed. When they went, they must carry fertilisers for the land, and when they returned they must bring sticks for fuel.
By harvest season, their land was bountiful and they had enough fuel for the impending winter. When there were no more sticks to collect, she told them to bring stones back, and they soon accumulated a pile of stones in their yard.
One day, a gemologist was passing by the heap of stones, and something caught his eye. He pretended that he wished to buy the heap of stones as building material, but the young head gave an exorbitant price for them. Instead of being deterred, he promised to come back two days later with the money. The girl pondered over the buyer’s persistence and concluded that there must be something valuable inside.
The next day, the young head asked her father-in-law to invite the buyer to supper. She then instructed the men to take out their best wine and induce him to talk about precious stones, so that she could learn how to identify the valuable stone in their heap.
The young head then hastened to find the valuable stone. Ah! So they had a block of jade inside! She quickly removed it from the pile.
After the buyer recovered from the previous night’s drinking, he realised that the stone was gone. He went to negotiate again with the young head. The smart girl managed to convince him to pay the original price for the heap of stones and an additional sum besides for the jade in her possession.
The sale of the stones brought great wealth to the family. They built an ancestral hall of fine design, and inscribed over the entrance were the words ‘No Sorrow’.
A Mandarin passing by the house noticed the inscription, and questioned which family dared to declare boldly to have no sorrow. When he sent for the head of the family, he did not expect to see a young woman to appear.
“I have never seen a family without sorrow, nor one with such a young head. For your impudence, I will fine you. Your punishment is to weave a piece of cloth as long as this road.” She responded,
“I will do as you say, your Excellency, as soon as you have found the two ends of the road, and informed me its length in feet.”
Not wanting to admit to his mistake, he added,
“And I will also fine you as much oil as there is water in the sea.” Unfazed, she replied,
“Certainly, as soon as you have measured the sea and sent me the number of gallons, then I will begin to press out the oil from my beans.”
Afraid to be outsmarted by this young lass, the Mandarin posed a riddle.
“I hold this quail in my hand. If you can read my mind and tell me whether I mean to squeeze it to death or release it, I will lift the penalty you have to pay.” Cheekily, the girl countered,
“I am but an obscure commoner, and you are a famed magistrate, if you are not more intelligent than I, you have no authority to fine me at all. Now I stand one foot within my house and the other foot outside. Tell me if I intend to go in or out. If you cannot guess my riddle, you should not require me to guess yours.”
Being unable to guess her intention, the Mandarin took off in a huff. From then on, the family continued to live long in opulence and good repute under its chosen head.
Word Bank
Daughters-in-law
Sin-pu
Brothers
Heeah-tee Ah-heeah (Older) Ah-tee
(Younger)
Smart
Happy
Hua-hee
Sad
Geg-sim
Leng-lai
Jade
Gek
Home
Keh
Rich
Pu
Head of the household
Tow-kay
Marriage
Gag-hoong Sin-nang-tia (Groom) Sin-nang
(Bride)
Via folktales, we trace our dialect history and honour our Teochew identity. If you are interested to learn more Teochew folktales, visit www.linktr.ee/fableforestsg
Text and Illustration Copyright 2022 by Huang Lei Fable Forest: Visual Storytelling to Conserve Teochew Culture for Children For ages 9 and up. All rights reserved. Summary: One’s wits can be more precious than any stone or inheritance.
What’s the criteria to be the head of the family? For this family, the youngest wife was chosen to make decisions for the household. Adapted from Chinese Nights’ Entertainment by Adele M. Fielde, this fable is an important part of Teochew’s vanishing folk culture.